We have been writing for some time about how to start a small business, how to look for capital and what areas your startup should focus on. But we have never really written anything about how to get a company running after you have all the aforementioned. Here is an account of what most successful people in tech have done in their day. An amalgamation of these qualities will lead to great success we believe.
Bill Gates
Bill Gates and the Microsoft used to be the trendsetters of the software market. Since he has left the decision maker position at Microsoft we don’t think we have seen anything thing that will make us go “WOW” since; well for ever. Microsoft is like this giant corporation where steering towards the right direction takes a lot of time. The world has seen many technological turn around in the last decade. Microsoft was left behind; the reason to that was not accepting the paradigm shift.
Bill Gates has a lot offer as a mentor to all the budding engineers and entrepreneurs. He is all about giving back to the society. Charity and education are all that he has on his agenda. We can all learn this from Bill.
Sir Richard Branson
The founder of Virgin Group, which comprises of over 400 companies is by far the “coolest personality” I have ever seen (well over the internet). He is the 4th richest person in the UK with $4.6 estimated worth. I follow him on LinkedIn too. The articles he publishes are always about how full of life he is and “they always start with so this one time we were in western Maldives or Ghana or some far off area that I have never heard of”.
The extra learning experience here is the always be fully alive and take something positive form all the experiences that happen to you. Travel the world when you have time. Meet new people, see new countries, learn many languages and of course eat around the world.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin
The founders of Google are worth $18 billion each. The company itself is worth more than $200 billion. We are inclined to think why most of Google projects fail? Well in a nutshell, all the projects that the founders were involved in have thrived. Google Search, AdSense, AdWords, Google Glass all mightily successful but involved the founders in some way. All the other successful Google products are either acquired and modified or acquired and merged with existing products to make them better. Google is known for acquiring a company every week. That’s a whole lot of companies.
But nonetheless, Google is one of the best companies to be working at. They are literally doing the coolest things in the software industry and we have to accept that. One thing that we might learn from Google is the way they handle failure. After every failed service; we don’t see people getting laid off or leaving the company. They learn from their mistakes. One thing all young entrepreneurs should learn.
Marissa Mayer
Enough said. Let’s have a look at what Yahoo! was before she joined in, and what they are today. Well we start off with Yahoo’s $1.1 billion acquisition of Tumblr. Her leadership led to the doubling of Yahoo’s share price. She introduced improved maternity leave policy and introduced bonus for the parents. She also improved the performance review system of the company. Analysts say that this is more in line with the Silicon Valley major players like Facebook and Google.
Mayer is the 32nd most powerful woman in the world according to the Forbes and she is only 38. Overall Mayer has a well decorated hat to which she is rapidly adding more feathers. Having said that we would like to point towards many of those articles referring to Mayer as the “pretty face who took Yahoo to new heights”.
Well we are not objectifying, but that is a little bit true. Research shows that good looking CEOs are more profitable for the company. So are the CEOs who look mature. It gives people a sort of trust that they are the right decision makers.
Mark Zuckerberg
In this changing trend; more and more people are establishing startups. That is a good thing. We are seeing more and more of those “Hoodie Wearing” CEOs that look (or at least try to look) like Mark Zuckerberg. Confidence sells and it takes more than just a little confidence to defy the norms especially when investors are inclined to believe more mature CEOs. However, dressing and appearance does tell a lot about you. Appearing mature enough to handle all the challenges that might come your way is all about the way you dress and the way you talk.
So to sum up the zeal to do something different is one thing. But to do that off nicely, you have to appear nice so you could leave a positive impact on people you interact with.
